HOUSTON – Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton today spoke with students, operators and technology experts who gathered for the 2017 Technology Forum hosted by the Texas Oil & Gas Institute. The Institute — a non-profit formed by University of Texas and Texas A&M University — is focused on improving the value of university lands through education, engineering and research.

The Technology Forum encouraged technical discussions on increasing production and growing reserves as well as best practices and lessons learned. During his keynote address, Commissioner Sitton discussed the Permian Basin’s remarkable opportunity and tremendous level of investment.

“Right now, 40 percent of all U.S. rigs are located in the Permian Basin,” Sitton said. “At a time when we’re seeing oil prices begin to rise, Texas production reaching record highs and historic new investments in the Permian, TOGI collaborators are going to play an important role in that basin.”

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Ryan Sitton was elected to the Railroad Commission in 2014 and is the first engineer to serve on the Commission in 50 years. Sitton is one of the world’s leading energy experts and founded PinnacleART, an engineering and technology company focused on reliability and integrity programs for the oil, gas, and petrochemical, mining, pharmaceutical, and wastewater industries. As Railroad Commissioner, Sitton uses his technical expertise and business experience to make decisions for the state that are based on sound science and employs a fiscally conservative approach to prioritize the agency’s efforts.